Get more bang for your advertising buck as FB ad rates hit an all-time low

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Like many small businesses, the big behemoths of the media world have also fallen susceptible to the violent clutches of COVID-19.

Facebook has suffered a coronavirus-related hit in its ad business, with ad revenues expected to nosedive as their quarterly results are released later this week.

A fall in Facebook ad revenue, however, does not mean a fall in Facebook usage. Rather, we’ve seen quite the opposite. Facebook Messenger usage has increased by 50% since March, while Facebook has seen more and more people using their Feed and Stories features to keep up-to-date with family and friends.

Yes, many businesses have pulled ad spend from Facebook. But many others have played it smart – realising that, iso-life or no iso-life, we will continue to trawl through our Facebook feed during work hours, even if it is now from the comfort of our own homes.

And for those businesses investing now, they’re getting the best bang for their buck.

How much more value can you get out of Facebook?

Comparing ad rates from the period of March 1 to April 28 in both 2019 and corona-stricken 2020, News Xtend has seen a 30% decrease in the cost of buying 1000 impressions on Facebook and Instagram (with one ‘impression’ meaning the display of one ad on a web page – they are often sold by the thousand).

As business uncertainty means less advertising spend on the Facebook platform, the demand for ad spaces on Facebook has decreased. Coupling this with the increase in demand and usage of Facebook as discussed above, there are a lot more available ad spaces to go around, all of which Facebook needs to fill. For Facebook, serving any ad is better than serving no ad at all.

With a decrease in ad cost, advertisers are reaching more users per dollar, and getting more bang for their buck.

What industries have jumped on the bandwagon?

As panic buying and food rationing became commonplace across all grocery retailers over the last month, our grocers, liquor and tobacco wholesalershave reaped the benefit of the current situation. Spend on Facebook across the industry has increased dramatically, serving up an extra 855% of impressions since the beginning of March.

The social assistance sectorhas seen the same increase. Spend across the industry on Facebook has increased by198% since March, but has served an 806%increase in impressions. Their large share of impressions is buoyed by targeting a wide share of the population,including unemployment services, daycare services, counselling, mental health and service occupations as people have been forced to adjust to a change in lifestyle.

You don’t need to spend big to get big returns either. Food Retailers have seen their amount of impressions increase by 65%, despite only increasing spend by 23% since the beginning of March. Furniture manufacturers have seen a 40% increase in impressions despite only a 2% increase in spend.

When should I invest in Facebook advertising?

Historically, any shock to the economy has produced long-lasting change. In the recession of the early 1970s in the United States, Toyota built its brand and products for a long haul approach, eventually surpassing Volkswagen as the top imported vehicle by 1976.

The same was said for Pizza Hut, who continued to advertise in the 1991 recession – while McDonald’s pulled ad spend. The famed pizza chain grew sales by 60%. The golden arches, however, declined in sales by 28%.

These famed examples go to show that keeping your business and brand top of mind, especially when times are uncertain, is important in gaining a share of voice and maintaining business after life returns to normal. There’s no better time to do that when your competitors have pulled their ad spend, and you can reach more Facebook users with a marginal increase in spend.

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While it might be tempting and seem risk-averse to pull all advertisements from Facebook, there’s no long or short of it. If you want your business to thrive post-coronavirus, the time to advertise is now.